The Tower of
London, The Bloody Tower, or just "The Tower" is an
ancient fortress in London. Just to the North of Tower Bridge, this is a monument to
times gone by, when shocking things were done in a manner less
subtle than these days!

And yes there
really are ravens about. Presumably the keepers of the place make
sure the birds are kept well-fed, as legend has it that if they
should ever leave the Tower, the kingdom will fall!

The Tower of
London was the original location of the Mint. Interestingly, the Tower Mint is (2005) still in the business of
minting coins and medals, (still in London but not in the Tower
of London), although banknote printing has moved on to another
famous location!

To visit the
Tower of London, you can go to Tower Hill underground station, or
go to London Bridge underground station and then walk along the
river bank towards HMS Belfast and Tower Bridge which is quite
scenic. To visit the website of the Tower of London, link to
either Tower of London
(was www.hrp.org.uk/webcode/tower_home.asp ) or to Historic
Royal Palaces

On the opposite
side of the river from the Tower of London, there is the old
battleship HMS Belfast which is permanently moored there as a
tourist attraction (part of the Imperial War Museum).

Another famous
London Tower (built at a somewhat later period in history) is the Post Office Tower. Although a notable
London landmark, and in some ways more tower-like in
construction, the Post Office Tower is more famous for
telecommunications than executions.